Navigating New Eden

2024-04

Page (Sections 2 to 6) adopted by Vendres Olo till 2024-04

The Explorer's Handbook
D-Scan & Overview Exploration Ships Fitting Guide Hacking Making ISK Navigation Quotes Sabbatical Scanning Skills and Implants Sites Tips and Tricks Addendum

Fundamentals of navigation in EVE Online

Like so much else in EVE Online, movement and navigation are complex. There are three separate layers, each with their own mechanisms and operating at very different scales:

• The finest-granularity control is on what is known as the grid. Here is where fighting, hacking, and mining are controlled and determined.
• The next level up is that of the star system, where players can warp between the system's star, celestials, and, structures and sites.
• Finally, the player can navigate between star systems using gates and wormholes. New Eden is made up of roughly 5000 systems connected by static gates and a further 2600 connected by dynamic wormholes.

The following sections deal with each in turn. Successful gameplay requires understanding and mastery of each.

On-grid maneuvering

See this page.

In-system navigation and maneuvering

See this page.

Inter-system navigation in New Eden

See this page.

Hisec

The security of a system is an indication of roughly how dangerous that system may be, displayed as a decimal value between 1.0 and -1.0, Systems with a security rating of between 1.0 and 0.5 are considered High-Sec. In High-Sec space CONCORD will police PVP actions taken by Capsuleers, responses are delayed depending on the security rating of the system in question, nearly instant in 1.0 space and nearly 20 seconds in 0.5 space. While this is intended to be an indication of danger, the only truly safe place in New Eden is docked, so remember to practice caution regardless of this value.

CONCORD will only police specific actions called Criminal-Level Offenses, which give a Capsuleer the Criminal Status, CONCORD ships and nearby sentry guns will fire on Criminal Capsuleers.

The following is a list of offenses that provide the Criminal status in High-Sec

• Attacking another Capsuleer that is not a Legal Target
• Attacking CONCORD
• Attacking another Capsuleers loot
• Remote repairing NPC or Capsuleer Criminal ships

An important distinction here is the "Legal" target, which makes a world of difference to how safe High-Sec actually is for members of Signal Cartel. A Criminal or Suspect Capsuleer is a legal target, and CONCORD will not intervene if a Capsuleer aggresses against them. War is another reason that a target would be considered legal, members of warring Corporations are considered Legal Targets to each other. If a Legal Target is attacked they gain the Limited Engagement status which allows them to defend themselves against their aggressor without interference by CONCORD. Another source of the Limited Engagement status is when two Capsuleers accept a Duel Request, allowing them to fight without interference.

While these are the CONCORD laws and standards, members of Signal Cartel are expected to uphold The Credo and remain neutral in our actions. Just because CONCORD will not respond to an action, doesn't mean it is in line with The Credo.

Remember that CONCORD is only present as a deterrent to criminal activity in High-Sec and will not protect you. Other Capsuleer Corps have often declared war on Signal Cartel and are free to attack our ships regardless of status, including in High-Sec space, combined with low returns from high-sec exploration sites this means that High-Sec space provides much less in the way of exploration opportunities than Null-Sec or J-Space.

Signal Cartel has three main offices in high security space:

Station: Zoohen III - Theology Council Tribunal

Station: Gelhan V - Moon 10 - DED Logistic Support

Station: Saisio VIII - Moon 4 - Perkone Factory

Hisec Topology

Topologically Hisec was a ring at the beginning of eve. You could thus travel via Hisec in a "circle":

Caldari State - Gallente Fedearation - Minmatar Republic - Ammatar Mandate - Amarr Empire - Caldari State.

In addition from Gallente Federation there exist Hisec routes to CONCORD Assembly and the Genesis Enclave of Amarr Empire. From Amarr Empire you can reach the Khanid Kingdom.

With the invasion of the Triglavian this "circle" was broken and the secure connection between Amarr Empire and Caldari Sate lost, so the circle becomes a "line":

Triglavian | Caldari State - Gallente Fedearation - Minmatar Republic - Ammatar Mandate - Amarr Empire | Triglavian

So if you want to travel via Hisec from Amarr (Amarr Space) to Jita (Caldari space) you will have to go via Amarr Mandate and Minmatar Republic. Thus especially the Route from Amarr to Jita, the main trade hubs, increased significantly (from 9-jump to 44-jump) after the invasion. Of course there are shorter routes, but those include always at least one Lowsec system.

Hisec Enclaves

There are Hisec systems that have no safe route (via Hisec systems) to other Hisec systems but are surrounded by Lowsec or Nullsec systems. They are not special but you should be aware that they exist.

Lowsec

The security of a system is an indication of roughly how dangerous that system may be, displayed as a decimal value between 1.0 and -1.0, Systems with a security rating of between 0.4 and 0.1 are considered Low-Sec. In Lowsec, like Hisec, there are CONCORD sentry guns on stations and stargates, however, CONCORD will not react to hostile PVP actions, though the sentry guns will attack provoking players and such actions will still cause a loss of Security Status. Low-Sec is just as dangerous as Hi-sec but for different reasons.

While Lowsec is far less populated than Hisec people there will often specifically hunt you down, without any fear of concord showing up. Lowsec systems that act as chokepoints bordering Hisec or Nullsec are often used to Gate Camp, resulting in many ship losses when moving in and out of Lowsec. The safest method in and out of Lowsec for an experienced explorer is through Wormhole space, however, this requires its own set of skills to be done effectively and safely.

The lower population of Lowsec means that worthwhile sites in empty systems are far more common, likewise, the sites themselves provide much better payouts than Hisec variants, though they often tend to have cans that are harder to hack. It is important to learn how to use D-Scan and Local to protect yourself, and to practice risk assessment at all times; determining when it's "Safe Enough", when to cut your losses or quit while you're ahead. The greatest tool would be experience and making mistakes, you'll likely never forget the situations that got you blown up and you'll learn from them. Try to use cheaper, disposable, ships at first to get used to the feeling and to mitigate any anxiety.

Signal Cartel holds one office in a low security system:

Station: Turnur III - Moon 17 - Boundless Creation Factory

Lowsec Topology

Routes through Lowsec systems provide often significant shortcuts for longer Hisec routes. There do exist low security chokepoints on this routes, meaning systems the route generator of the autopilot will have you fly through.

Because of this, pirates are often operating in these: Between Minmatar and Caldari: Miroitem (0.3) and Rancer (0.4). Between Gallente/Minmatar and Amarr: Amamake (0.4) and Auga (0.4). Between Gallente - Concord Assembly and Amarr: Vecamia (0.4). Between Caldari and Gallente: Tama (0.3).

Please note: The autopilot generated routes are not necessarily the only routes you can fly. If you want to avoid pirates in above systems it is advised to consult the ingame star map or the maps of Dotlan before flight. Also you can alter the initial routefinding by putting waypoints or putting systems on the "avoidance list" within the autopilot.

You can travel from one faction warfare areas to another via Lowsec.

Faction Warfare Space

Faction Warfare as a gameplay mechanic does not really affect Signaleers, as being in Signal Cartel precludes us from participating. Faction Warfare takes place in Low-Sec space, specifically in two regional War Zones, each of which is being contested by two NPC factions: The Amarr-Minmatar war zone, and the Caldari-Gallente war zone. Players aid their chosen faction in contesting these systems for faction standings and loyalty points, and count as being at war with their opposing faction, allowing them to legally attack each other in High-Sec space.

Nullsec

The security of a system is an indication of roughly how dangerous that system may be, displayed as a decimal value between 1.0 and -1.0, Systems with a security rating of between 0.3 and 0.0 are considered Null-Sec. In Null-Sec, unlike in Hi-Sec or Low-Sec, there is no Concord presence or acts that provide the criminal or suspicious status.

No ship or module restrictions apply in Null Space and situational awareness is key to surviving Null-Sec. Keep an eye out for gate camps and fleets of hunters, and remain mobile or cloaked when possible. Always trust your gut when you feel things are a little too unsafe and simply move on. Try not to fly anything you couldn't afford to lose in Null and practice effective risk management when it comes to deciding when to return to a station.

On top of the usual safe travel technics, you'll need extra measures specifically in Null-Sec. For instance, gate camps will use "bubbles". Mobile Warp Disruptors, Warp Disrupt Probes, and Warp Disruption Field Generator will be deployed at specific gates and will require specific defensive modules (nullification module) or tactics (warp to the gate at an angle, not from another gate). The locals know their space well and will have scouts to warn them in advance while you are still two or three jumps away, many PVP corps present in Null Space have standing fleets intended to chase out or down trespassers.

Despite all these risks, Null-Sec offers the most relative freedom and possible rewards of known space for exploration, and despite how overwhelming these risks may sound correct mitigation can nearly guarantee survival.

Choosing a Region

Assuming you are exploring to find hacking sites you will need a quiet area with profitable sites and an easy way in / easy way out. Different regions of Null are occupied by specific Pirate Factions, each of which has unique loot tables for their data and relic sites. The average value of each faction in order of most to least isk per site is as follows: Sansha's Nation, Gurista's Pirates, Blood Raider Covenant, Angel Cartel, Serpentis Corporation. Though this can change based on the current economy. You can use various sites like EvEye and DotLan maps to find out which regions of null are inhabited by your chosen faction, but remember that the more valuable of a faction you choose the more competition you are likely to find.

Null Sec is divided into Claimable and NPC regions, in Claimable Null you will find capsuleer corps and stations being run, from which there are most likely standing fleets and you are unlikely to be allowed to dock, while in NPC Null you will find NPC Stations that are generally safe to dock at so long as you do not have poor standing with the pirate faction of said region.

Entering Null sec

The first issue of Null-Sec is simply finding a reliable method of accessing it. The various alliances and factions - even small gangs of independant pilots - will set gate camps at the choke points. Even if it is possible to reach Null space using the regular travel routes, there are much safer ways to do so.

- Filaments:

Filaments are fairly cheap consumable items found in data-sites, the two kinds useful for this purpose are "Noise" and "Signal". To use a filament you must be in a fleet (Even if it is simply by yourself), have your ship safety setting set to at least Partial Safety, and not have any log-out timers. You must also be a certain distance from structures, simply warp at 100 to a nearby celestial object or use a safe point. When attempting to use a Filament you may find it a tad finicky, so long as you meet these requirements simply try a couple more times and it should work.

These filaments are named as "(Noise/Signal)-# 'Needlejack' Filament" the # determines how many nearby fleet ships the filament is capable of transporting, while the "Noise" vs "Signal" determines how the filament targets systems, With Noise being seemingly random space and Signal targeting systems with high "Activity"

There is, however, a catch to filaments: while theoretically Noise filaments will go to a random null system, the exact methodology of its targeting is unknown. Many have claimed to find patterns in where it will put you in short periods of time, or repeated locations being used, and there have been some claims of gate camps or hunters that specifically use this knowledge to hunt down filamenters. Though there isn't much in the way of hard evidence on the subject, Reddit post studying the Needlejacks use leads to this conclusion. On the other hand, there are a lot of examples of successful pilots roaming in Null Sec using filaments. This tactic should probably not be discarded lightly.

- Using Thera

Thera is a unique system and offers a lot of opportunities to travel across New Eden. Signal Cartel - and more specifically the Eve Scout program - are heavily related to Thera and any Signaleer should probably get familiar with it. Suitonia, a famous Eve Online PVPer, made a good introductory video here. Regarding the access to Null Sec, Thera is definitely a valid option, especially if you have decided to live out of Signal Cartel's Thera Station. A famous Signaleer explained how to use Thera to access Null Sec.

This tactic is not without risks either, thanks to the Eve Scout program, there is a public list of currently opened wormholes in Thera and their destination. This is very useful to the Eve Online community, however, the trade-off is that any Null sec group could be waiting for you on arrival as they can check the current wormholes state on the Eve Scout Website, they may be waiting two or three jumps away. Remember that Null-Sec Capsuleers are very familiar with each of their limited territories, while you must become familiar as you move and plan.

If you would like to use this method you should also look at the Thera section of this page.

- Using random wormholes

This tactic could be qualified as a "brute force" approach. To summarize, you scan a random wormhole close to where you are, and enter it. You enter another wormhole and continue following the chain until you find a suitable null connection, or dead end.

The advantage of this method is that no one should be waiting for you, it's unlikely your specific chain has been mapped out and camped as long as it doesn't border a high-traffic system. However because of the unpredictable nature of these connections the resulting Null connection, should it even exist, may be sub-standard. There may be high traffic, or a poor yield NPC faction, or perhaps even some sort of conflict. You may scan during hours without finding a valid Null sec exit point or continuously find dead ends.

If you would like to use this method you should also look at the Wormholes section of this page.

Pochven

The Triglavian invasion changed the topology of Hisec routes significantly for navigation (see above). After the invasion the Pochven region consits of 27 systems that were conquered by the Triglavian Collective and owned by three clades (Perun, Veles and Svarog).

As old stargates do not work into the region, there are only two ways to fly to Pochven: You can use filaments or fly in via wormholes.

To use a filament you need to be in a fleet, even if it is only a fleet by yourself. The name of the filament will indicate where you land: Border-, Inner- or Home- Systems.

Wormhole types C729, U372 and F216 lead to pochven. Types C729, X450 and R081 spawn in Pochven and lead outbound.

Within Pochven you can use conduit gates to move from system to system. These do function as stargates. Access is determined by the level of your standings with the Triglavian Collective. As an example gates which lead into a clade home system require a 7.0 standing to use, however when entered from the home system they are unrestricted.

Abyssal Deadspace

Abyssal Deadspace is a area of isolated space. The Deadspace consists of three bubbles which have to be fought through (PvE) in order to return to your starting point. The Deadspace can only be reached by the use of special filaments. Each bubble will collapse after a certain time resulting in the loss of your ship and pod if you were not able to leave the bubble before.

Abyssal Proving Grounds

The Abyssal Proving Grounds are similar bubbles like Abyssal Deadspace but with PvP challenges. Using special "Proving Ground Filaments" to access the Abyssal Proving Grounds is prohibited for Signal Cartel pilots, as use of these filaments initiates a PVP encounter 100% of the time.

Wormhole Space/J-Space

Wormhole Space, also known as J-Space or Anoikis Space, is a unique collection of around 2600 systems that contain no stargates making them only accessible via Wormhole. J-Space Systems are named with a J- followed by 6 numbers and do not contain NPC Stations. High, Low, and Null Sec Space, when in reference to J-Space, is called Known Space or K-Space.

The Local Chat in Wormhole Space is different from K-Space as it does not show Capsuleers present in the system unless they are actively using it. D-Scan still functions as normal, allowing you to see uncloaked Capsuleers, but any wormhole could contain any number of cloaked capsuleers without your knowledge, thus it is imperative that you remain alert in Wormhole Space. Many use the one-click one-scan rule, that for every time you click something you should D-Scan. Thankfully this also means that cloaked Signaleers at safe spots are nearly impossible to find, or even notice for that matter, thus you are most vulnerable while caching, hacking a site, or leaving the wormhole.

Once mastered, however, Wormhole Space is particularly useful for explorers and contains the majority of Signal Cartel content such as The ESRC Program, Thera Scanning, and even The Anoikis Division. Other than Signal Cartel services, Wormhole Space is uniquely valuable to explorers as it contains a higher density of sites than Known Space, has random paths that continuously change, making Capsuleer Density low, allows for better hunter avoidance, and provides more valuable exploration sites.

Signal Cartel holds two offices in a wormhole system:

Station: Thera XII - The Sanctuary Institute of Paleocybernetics.

Station: run by The Anoikis Division.

Finding Wormholes

Wormholes spawn randomly in any system and decay within a couple of days, making their various connections and locations exceptionally random, logging out in a Wormhole is both a good way to lose your path back to known space and to find new systems in the chain. Wormholes can spawn anywhere and can lead to anywhere, from J-Space to K-Space, K-Space to K-Space, J-Space to J-Space, and more.

Wormholes spawn appear as Signatures just like Data and Relic sites, most wormholes can be easily scanned down by a starter exploration fit, and all wormholes can be entered by frigates, some can have size restrictions beyond this. Once a wormhole is scanned down it can be warped to and entered. Once you have warped to a Wormhole you are most likely going to want to identify it. How long it will last, if other ships have traveled through it, where it will go, and if your ship will fit through it this is the kind of information you'll be wanting.

There are a variety of methods of identifying wormholes, from simply inspecting the details of them to looking at their color and shape. Though it can seem daunting at first, As you gain experience with wormholes you'll find them more and more simple to identify. Make sure to D-scan near a chosen wormhole to ensure it isn't being camped, and remain alert whilst identifying it, camped wormholes are rare but dangerous, and become far more common with High-Sec connections.

Identification

Show Info

The most straightforward method of identifying wormholes is simply selecting one on grid and clicking "Show Info". A window will appear giving you information about the wormhole in 4 sentences.

1. The first indicates what parts of space it would seem to lead to, there are more accurate ways to determine the destination, such as distinguishing between C1/C2/C3 wormholes or even determining what region of known space it connects to, however this is the simplest.

Description	System Type
Unknown	C1/C2/C3
Dangerous Unknown	C4/C5
Deadly Unknown	C6
High Security	Hisec
Low Security	Lowsec
Null Security	Nullsec
Triglavian Space	Pochven
Thera System	Thera

2. The second indicates what stage of life the wormhole is currently at, while there are 4 different possibilities players generally split it into "Fresh" and "End of Life" (Or EOL) with EOL referring to a wormhole with less than 4 hours remaining. It is not suggested to enter end of life wormholes if you want to return the way you came as it is very easy to become trapped.

Description	Remaining Time
not yet begun	more than 24 hours
beginning to decay	Between 4 and 24 hours
reaching the end	Less than 4 hours
dissipating into the ether	unverified, potentially less than 15 minutes

3. The third indicates how much mass has destabilized this wormhole so far. Everything has mass including your ship and its contents, and every type of wormhole has different mass limits, any mass passing through a wormhole incrementally destabilizes it, until it reaches its limits. Some wormholes have very small mass limits, some very large, some even regenerate stability over time. This won't tell you a number, just how much in comparison to the wormholes max that has passed through, wormholes that are very unstable from mass are likely being "rolled" where someone goes back and forth through a wormhole to force it to close.

Description	Mass to Limit Ratio
not yet had its stability significantly disrupted	less than 50%
beginning to decay	between 50% and 90%
reaching the end	more than 90%

4. The last indicates what size ships can enter this wormhole

Description	Ship Limits
Very large ships	Everything except for Titans and Supercarriers
Larger ships	Battleships, Orcas, and smaller
Up to medium size ships	Unplated Nestors, Battlecruisers and smaller
Only the smallest ships	Frigates, destroyers, and certain Heavy Interdiction Cruiser fits

Visual Identification

The videos in this section were linked with the kind permission of their owner, Sothis Ast, owner of the whtype website.

The visual aspect of a wormhole provides information that enable a pilot to complete the "show info" details, which is particularly interresting when looking at an exit (K162). To do that, one has to look at the two parts of the hole : its "eye" (the wobbly bubble in the center) and its aurora (its arms) :

Wormhole Parts

Destination system

This information can be gathered when looking at the eye of the wormhole. The eye of the wormhole reflects the landscape of the region you'll end in when jumping through. Here are their various aspects and a few additional clues to know what to look for when you look a wormhole in its eye !

Jumping to W-Space

Destination	Visual	What to look for
C1		The clues of C2 or C3 are missing, you see only a dark, cloudy aspect.
C2		There is a darker spot in the cloud bordered by small, bright ones.
C3		There is a v-shaped red cloud visible
C4		The clouds have a brownish/dark red color with a white V-shaped spot.
C5		The clouds are a brighter red than the C4.
C6		Those are a vivid orange tint.
C13		A greenish/greyish tint with a white cloud.
Thera, C13 shattered WH, Drifter WH		Very similar to the previous one, there's a large black spot curling around inside the eye.

High-Sec and Low-Sec

As the eye is a reflection of the skybox of the system you'll land in, when jumping to High-sec or Low-Sec, its color will hint at the empire ruling the system.

Amarr space.	Caldari space.
Gallente space.	Minmatar space.

Null-sec

When jumping into Null-sec, your only clue is the look of the clouds and your own knowledge of NS systems to recognize them. You can try to find the region by using the very well made "Modern Guide to Wormhole Identification" website

Maximum size allowed to jump through

This information is given by the color of the arms moving around the wormhole.

Size	Visual	Ships able to jump through
S		Up to destroyers with the addition of Porpoise and HIC (with specific fit)
M		Up to battlecruisers
L		Up to Battleships
XL		All ships with the exception of Titans and Supercarriers

Health of the wormhole

End of Life

As the wormhole ages, its aurora will fade and its movements will slow down and the eye become "wobblier".

Two size L wormhole : one healthy, the other reaching its end of life.

Mass destabilization

As ships jump through, the size of the eye will shrink. Unfortunately, in empty space, there is no object of reference to compare the size of the eye to, so this is very hard to spot. It is generally visible if witnessing the moment when the size changes as a ship goes through and the wormhole's information is the quickest source of information available.

But if you use the "Look At" function when you select the wormhole in your overview, you'll set your point of view at a fixed distance and then you'll be able to notice how unusually small the "eye" of the wormhole appears to be on your screen as long, as you do not zoom in or out.

C2 that has not reached critical mass destabilization	C2 that has reached critical mass destabilization
C2 that has not reached critical mass destabilization	C2 that has reached critical mass destabilization

Wormhole Types

The site Wormhole types lists all known wormhole typs and provides infos attached to the type in a graphical way. Use with care as the information may not always be 100% accurate.

Thera

Thera is the largest system in Anoikis. It has a unique distinction of being the only wormhole system with NPC stations owned by The Sanctuary corporation, a research branch of Servant Sisters of EVE. One of those stations, The Sanctuary Institute of Paleocybernetics, located near Thera XII planet hosts Signal Cartel headquarters.

Thera is highly connected to known space and can be used by adventurous or well-prepared pilots as a shortcut for traveling between New Eden regions. Signal Cartel's Thera Scanning service maintains a map of wormhole connections to Thera which can be used to plan the route.

There are several landmarks that have remnants of space constructions abandoned by previous Thera explorers. An activated CovOps cloaking device is recommended for sightseers who want to visit them as those sites are patrolled by Sleeper vessels.

Sightseeing New Eden

New Eden is wonderful and there is much to navigate to. There are lost places, marks of history and lots to discover. Some of the most wonderful places (and always worth a well planned exploration) are described in

• Trip Tiks by Signal Cartel.
• Eve Travel by Mark726
• and can be found in our Signal Cartels discord channels

Fly safe o/

Signal Cartel graciously thanks Gatide Huren for their foundational contribution to this wiki page that will assist future Signaleers as they explore the stars.